October 23, 2013

We’re having quite the time over the recent scandal in the Federal Government. And at the centre of it all for awhile is always rotund Mike Duffy. These are two illustrations, ‘Mike Duffy’s Pillow Talk’ and ‘The Mike Duffy Two Step’.

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July 29, 2013

Cruelty. Is it what the powerful do when they become bored? Do we believe in God because without him, life is just too dull. And cruel. Are the angels of our spirits, illusions. Just an escape from reality.

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July 18, 2013

I heard this joke. Two guys. Walking. One guy has a gun. The guy that doesn’t have a gun walks into a dark room. The guy with the gun follows. There’s a bang. The guy with the gun walks out of the room. The guy without the gun stays in the room. He’s dead. The guy with the gun gets off. Self-defense. Pretty funny.

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July 15, 2013

While watching The Bible, it seemed as if everyone was out of their mind. When we watch these Islamic zealots its easy to see but when it comes to Christians there is a tendency to say that they’ve been touched by God. Touched…. yes.

July 1, 2013

This is wave the flag week. I’m not a flag waver. It doesn’t bother me that people wish to wrap themselves in the flag once a year (July 1 or July 4). But as a general principle I think that holding the flag up as some sacred garment is idolatry.

Where did I come by this position? I get it from my father. He fought during World War Two. His boyhood friend died in his arms on the beach during the invasion of Europe. My father suffered shrapnel wounds and was hospitalized for several months. Then he returned to Europe as a medic. He saw a lot of horrible things.

When he returned to Canada after the war he couldn’t get out of his uniform fast enough. My mother told me that when they went to movies he refused to stand up for the national anthem (God Save Our Queen). My father was such a gentle man that it was hard to imagine why he was so angry on this one point. He laughed at war movies. He said that John Wayne was a joke. All of it was just show business. The real thing… he almost never talked about.

It wasn’t just the enemy. My father said he saw German prisoners taken behind tanks and shot. The brutality was everywhere. There were no heroes. Just survivors. My father would never join the Canadian Legion. He did not want to listen to guys boasting about things they had never gone through. There are horrible things done in the name of nations, flags, family, religion. It should give us pause.

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June 29, 2013

Circuses. That’s all I can think of when I watch my wife watch the two murder trial developments on CNN. Zimmerman and Hernandez. I can imagine a special station devoted only to trials (murder, mayhem, and money). Can a punishment channel be far behind?

June 28, 2013

I’m always listening to the political stirrings in the USA. Everyone is shouting. Fox news has made smirking something of a ‘company brand’. Arguments are made and won regardless of the truth. The facts be damned. Now the positions are taken regarding the abortion issue. One side calls the other side ‘murderers’. The other side says that its ‘none of your business’.

I have been against abortion for years. I have also been for a woman’s right to make her own decision. Many people share my position.

June 20, 2013

Privacy. The government spying on us. Companies spying on us. And then there is Facebook, Twitter where everyone is letting everyone know what they’re up to. Perhaps the issue is permission.

Privacy is a modern concept. There was no privacy at the time of the Romans. Slaves were everywhere. In the middle ages everyone had to report to the authority above them. Only the king or the pope reported to God. But even kings and popes were spied on. And then came diaries. Some place where one could put one most intimate thoughts without anyone else knowing of them.

In the early 20th century the poor had no privacy. Large families lived in small apartments with no sense of privacy. Sex was something children learned from their parents. What bothers me about the government or companies or the widow Wright peaking out from her curtains is – don’t you have something better to do with your time?